The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts are a group of table-top wargamers who get together every Thursday night to enjoy some gaming, some beer and a few chuckles courtesy of our hobby.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Epic 40k battle report - Conflict on Toxo IV

Table showing the three "sludge production sectors" that were objectives.

Last night Dallas hosted a game of Epic 40k, pitting the Tau against the Imperial Guard for full control of some vital toxic sludge plants. It was the battlefield debut for my Epic Tau. Yes, that's right - Epic Tau from Forgeworld. What the f***k was I thinking? Well, I got them - years ago! and I managed to paint them. Last night they went into battle! I have to say I am pleased to finally have seen them on the table.

The Tau had a cadre of Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits, Broadsides, Hammerhead tanks and infantry in Devilfish APCs. They also had some human auxiliaries, representing Imperial Guard units who had defected to their side in return for not having to worry about Commissars any more.

The Imperials had a storm trooper company in Valkyries, backed by Vulture gunships, a detachment of Sentinels, a mechanized infantry company and a tank company, backed by a battery of Basilisk artillery pieces.

Cam, Mike F and Brian took the Tau, and Dallas and Bill rolled out with the Imperial Guard.

Imperial Guard storm troopers enter "flavour country"

The scenario was a classic "take two out of three" objective grab - each ojbective representing an important sludge factory, along with the housing which would naturally be concentrated very close to it so as to maximize worker productivity and minimize commuting.

The Tau started in control of the three objectives, but could place only their traitor milita on the table. The Imperials would be allowed to "drop" their storm troopers and sentinels in on the first turn, and from there it was all on!

The Tau move out from their occupied objective, led by their Hammerhead gunships.

The storm troopers made a tough assault in the first turn, capturing a sludge plant and defeating a traitor infantry platoon and artillery battery. This was a great firefight, as Dallas and Brian tied the result rolls again and again, meaning that round after round was fought.

A Leman Russ tank company - one of the most devestating units the Imperial Guard can get.

In the second turn, Bill rolled the mechanized infantry in to capture a second sludge sector, while the Tau concentrated on the third. Realizing they would need to capture a second sector to win the game, the Tau side began a careful advance against the storm troopers and the sentinels.

Tau deploy from their Devilfish APCs - thanks to markerlights elsewhere on the table, the Devlish can send guided missiles all over the place to p*ss off their opponents.

The upshot of the careful advance was a lot of headaches for the storm troopers and sentinels, and especially for Dallas, who got to enjoy exposure to the mobility of the Tau suits, markerlights etc. While the Tau were not able to kill many units in the factory sector, they did wreak havoc with their weapons which caused extra blast markers.

Mechanized infantry secure an objective.

We called the game for time a little after midnight - each side had one sludge sector firmly in control, and the third was contested. The final turn was a bit of an anti-climax, with both sides failing to issue engage orders successfully, meaning that what would have been a wicked cool firefight was falling down toward a Verdun-style grind for both sides.

It was great to play Epic 40k again - I just love the rules. The Tau are definitely tough in the game. The suits are super-mobile, the Hammerheads are lethal and the markerlights and guided missiles, while not causing too much harm on their own, made the Imperial players mental ("the missiles come from where???"). While I can't say I will be adding more Epic Tau figures (which don't seem to be that available from Forgeworld anymore regardless) I will paint up the Epic Tau flyers that I have, and I may try to convert my own Manta using 40k bits so they can take out Titans.

Thanks to Dallas for hosting, and for everyone who came out to play! I definitely enjoyed it.

4 comments:

Thanks again for an awesome game, Greg! Even though *technically* the result was a draw, I feel it was a moral victory for me and Bill to have avoided defeat at the hands of the Tau Collective (and boy were they ever a collective when it came to making battlefield decisions - sheesh!)

Dallas - we'll report the report to the Gav Thorpe Commission for Moral Victory in Wargaming (GTCMVW). I'm sure they will expedite a review of the circumstances, and rule accordingly in 6 to 10 months :)